Name: _______________________

Date: _____________ Period: ____

Symbol Essay Outline
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Use this outline to help guide you in writing your essay. Feel free to add more
sentences and detail to make your essay more interesting. Make sure to rewrite
or type your rough draft.

I. Introduction
a. Hook or Attention Grabber:______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
b. Title/author and main idea of the story: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare is
about_______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
c. Supporting sentences (How does your topic of symbols relate to the
story?): From the story, it is clear that_______________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
d. Thesis statement (What your essay is about): Some of the most important
symbols in the story
are______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Introduction Example:
All of us at one point in our lives have felt left out or alone. The Witch

of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth Gearge Speare is a story about a girl named

Kit who is forced to move to Connecticut and live with Puritans. From the

story it is clear that there are many objects that are actually important

symbols. In the novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond three of the most

important symbols are the meeting house that represents Puritan Society, the

Charter that represents Puritan rights and freedom, and finally the Dolphin

that represents escape.

 II. Body Paragraphs
a. First Symbol: The first symbol is _________________ that represents
___________________________________________________________
i. Example: One example ___________________________________________
ii. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
iii. Commentary: This shows that_____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
iv. Example: Another example ________________________________________
v. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
vi. Commentary: Therefore___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
vii. Concluding sentence: From these examples it is clear that
_________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
b. Second Symbol: Another symbol is _________________ that
represents________________________________________________
i. Example: This is apparent _________________________________________
ii. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
iii. Commentary: This shows__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
iv. Example: Another example ________________________________________
v. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
vi. Commentary: This
means__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Concluding sentence: As you can see_______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
c. Third Symbol: And finally the last symbol is _________________ that
represents_________________________________________________
i. Example: In one instance __________________________________________
ii. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
iii. Commentary: It is apparent that___________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
iv. Example: In another event
_________________________________________
v. Quote: On page ______ it
says________________________________________
vi. Commentary: Therefore___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
vii. Concluding sentence: So _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Body Paragraph Example:

The first symbol is the meeting house that represents Puritan society.
For example, the meeting house is described as being dull and boring, which
is what Puritan society is like. On page 48 it says, “The Puritan service
seemed to her as plain and unlovely as the bare boards of the meeting
house.” This shows that the meeting house is very similar to the dull Puritan
lifestyle. Another example that the meeting house represents Puritan society
is that it is the most important building in Wethersfield and is located in the
middle of the town. On page 47 it says, “The meeting house stood in the
center of the clearing, a square unpainted wooden structure, topped by a
small turret.” Therefore, the fact that the meeting house is so important to
the Puritans is symbolic of their beliefs and lifestyle. From these examples it
is clear that the meeting house is representative of Puritan society.
III. Conclusion
a. Restate the Thesis Statement: In the novel The Witch of Blackbird
Pond, three important symbols that are mentioned in the book are
_______________________________________________________________
b. Restate Symbol 1 and what it stands for: The first
symbol______________ represents
________________________________________________________________
c. Restate Symbol 2 and what it stands for: Another
symbol______________ symbolizes
________________________________________________________________
d. Restate Symbol 3 and what it stands for: And the last
symbol__________ represents
________________________________________________________________
e. Concluding Statement (Wrap up your ideas, connecting your paper to life
or human nature): ________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion Example:
In the novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, three important symbols
that are mentioned in the book are the meeting house, the Charter, and The
Dolphin. The first symbol, which is the meeting house, represents Puritan
society. Another symbol is the Charter that symbolizes the colonists’ rights
and freedom. And the last symbol is The Dolphin which represents escape
from Puritan society for both Kit and Hannah. Although objects in people’s
lives may seem meaningless, they can actually hold a deeper meaning, such
as the symbols represented in the novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond.